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Enable Roslyn-Powered Data ASTs and Data Views

This vote is for developers who support the idea of Roslyn-Powered Data ASTs and Data Views. Data Views are a conceptual improvement to the way Visual Studio presents data files to a developer, and how a developer works with that data. Data Views are powered by Data ASTs, which are ASTs (abstract syntax trees) that describe data in much the same way that code-based ASTs describe code.

Data ASTs and the Data Views that they enable allow teams to pick a data format to use in their project, while enabling individual developers within the team to view the data in a different (and personally-preferred) format than the team.

Opening a file: To load a Data View, a data file (example.json) is loaded into memory and parsed as a Roslyn Data AST. From there, it is processed through a developer's Data Formatting Profile to render the data to the developer as they prefer it. This includes such preferences as format (.xml/.xaml) and spacing (tabs vs. spaces, properties on one line or multiple lines, etc.).

Saving a file: When a file is saved back to disk, the Data View sends it back to Roslyn to parse and create an Data AST. The Data AST is then converted into the target data format (or the format of the file in which it was originally opened), which is then saved to disk. From there, it can then be checked into source control where the team can view it as the expected data format.

Finally, this is intended to be a starting point for discussion, and not a final solution. THAT is meant for the experts there at Microsoft. :) Thank you for any support, dialogue, and feedback around this idea!

As of today, the Visual Studio Improvements category (where this vote is tracked) has 223 combined points. This report will be useful in seeing how many votes occurred over what period of time. Please continue sharing this idea and make sure that our voices are heard!